Make Your Point: LACKADAISICAL

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LACKADAISICAL

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce LACKADAISICAL:

LACK uh DAY zick ull

connect this word to others:

Lackadaisical employees are the lazy kind: the ones who hang around, wasting time, getting nothing done.

You could also call these employees passive, lethargic, apathetic, unindustrious, dil__ory, or w__k-shy.

Could you recall those last two synonyms?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Hundreds of years ago, we used the phrases "Alas the day!" and "Alack the day!" to mean "I regret the day!" or "I feel sorrow for this day!" or, to put it in today's terms, "Ugh! Everything is going wrong! This is terrible!" Or to put in Amyy Woahh's terms, "Dang it! I don't like today!"

(Source)

Over time, phrases like "Alack the day!" morphed into one word, "Lackadaisy!" And by the mid-1700s, we'd started saying "lackadaisical" to mean "constantly complaining in a sentimental way." And because people who spend a lot of time complaining don't spend much time getting things done, "lackadaisical" also grew to mean "lazy, not hardworking." That's what it means today.

In other words, something or someone lackadaisical should be hardworking but is instead lazy and uninterested, totally lacking in focus or energy.

Like Futurama's Scruffy, the janitor. He rarely cleans or maintains anything, preferring to lie on his couch reading a magazine. He's lackadaisical.

(Source)

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "a lackadaisical student;" "As a student, she was lackadaisical."

Other forms:

Lackadaisically, lackadaisicalness.

how to use it:

Pick the semi-common, old-fashioned, funny-sounding word "lackadaisical" to call extra attention to someone's laziness.

You might talk about lackadaisical people, attitudes, approaches, performances, and so on. "Quit being so lackadaisical about your homework." "The school takes a lackadaisical approach to the dress code." "Annoyed, she grabbed her toothbrush and gave her front teeth a few lackadaisical swipes."

Although the tone of this word is generally negative, it doesn't have to be. Here's the New York Times: "He moves with the lackadaisical ease of a man half his age."

examples:

"The local police department was under fire for a lackadaisical missing person's investigation."
— Poe Ballantine, as quoted by John Williams, New York Times, 4 September 2013

"Both the boys were busy dismantling the gadget. Discouragement and hopelessness were written all over their faces, in the dejected slope of their shoulders, in the lackadaisical movements of their arms."
— Mark Clifton, The Kenzie Report, 1953

has this page helped you understand "lackadaisical"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "lackadaisical" without saying "idle" or "languid."

try it out:

A writer for the New York Times complained, "Service was frosty and lackadaisical—despite the restaurant being largely empty."

First, explain the complaint: what does it mean when service at a restaurant is lackadaisical?

Then, offer a remedy: what would you do about it if your service seemed lackadaisical (rather than complain about it in the New York Times)?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is Palindromes in Poems: Yay!

Check out the snippet of a poem, and supply the missing palindrome: the word spelled the same backward and forward, like "yay," "sees," or "racecar." Highlight the hints if you need them, and see the answer by scrolling all the way down. Enjoy!

Try this one today:
"Following his plough, along the mountain-side:
By our own spirits are we _____."
— William Wordsworth, "Resolution and Independence," 1807

To reveal the hints below, highlight the hidden white text.

Hint 1: The number of letters in this palindrome is... seven.
Hint 2: The letter that this palindrome starts and ends with is... "D."
Hint 3, because this is a hard one: The meaning of this palindrome is... "transformed into godlike beings."

review this word:

1. The opposite of LACKADAISICAL is

A. INDUSTRIOUS (eager and hardworking).
B. COMMODIOUS (spacious, comfortable, and convenient).
C. SANCTIMONIOUS (acting morally better than other people).

2. Tasha Robinson observed that, in movies, _____ have a sense of "lackadaisical _____."

A. oddballs .. eccentricity
B. losers .. irresponsibility
C. overachievers .. thirst for success

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LACKADAISICAL Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > LACKADAISICAL

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.